**Author's Note — The Unstoppable Queen Aish 💖🔪**
Welcome back, my relentless, spine-tingling ShadowHearts.
You felt the burn of the kiss in Chapter 12, didn't you? The House always rewards truth and punishes longing. And now... we dive deeper. Blood is memory. Blood is the curse. And tonight, you'll taste both.
Breathe slow. The whispers are louder now.
Let the doors creak open for Chapter 13.
**Recap of Chapter 12:**
Aanya and Veer finally shared a kiss under the shadow of old glass, but with that tenderness came the burning—her lips bled, his scars deepened. A mirror cracked in joy or agony, and the House murmured the name again:
"Ananta."
---
**Aanya's POV**
The morning sunlight didn't reach the hallway.
She stood with her fingers still hovering near her lips, as if afraid the kiss had been a dream—or worse, a memory. Her robe clung to her like second skin, soaked from the storm's breath last night. Her cheeks still glowed, but her heart thudded with dread.
"His blood is mine."
The voice had echoed in her dreams.
Soft. Feminine. Familiar.
She walked to the cracked mirror in the hallway. The glass had bled at the edges. Her reflection blinked once too many.
And in that instant, she saw it.
A flash.
Of a hand.
Of a blade.
Of blood.
Veer's blood.
But it wasn't his wound.
It was *hers.*
Aanya stumbled backward. Her palm brushed the pendant again—the obsidian one Veer had given her. A hum pulsed from it, like a silent scream trapped in stone.
"We shared the curse. But you forgot what it meant."
The voice came again.
This time from *behind* her.
She turned.
No one.
Only the echo.
---
**Veer's POV**
Veer stood shirtless near the window, watching crows circle the garden.
His chest bore three old scars that never healed. One throbbed now—the one shaped like a spiral. He clutched it, the silver ring on his hand pulsing again.
"Aanya has started remembering."
He whispered it like a confession to the wind.
Behind him, the locked door of his father's study rattled.
Veer turned to it slowly.
"Not yet," he told it.
But the door didn't listen.
The House never did.
He walked into the hallway, meeting Aanya's shaken eyes.
She looked as if she'd aged in a night.
"Why did you kiss me?" she asked.
"Because I remembered what it felt like to lose you."
"What do you mean?"
Veer took her hand.
Led her down the steps.
Past the corridor.
Into the hidden library she hadn't entered before.
The air was thick.
Books were bound in chains.
Candles wept wax in long lines.
He walked to a blood-red book.
Opened it.
And there it was:
**The Blood Pact of 1995.**
---
**Flashback: The Pact**
Veer was eight.
Aanya was seven.
They stood hand-in-hand beside Veer's mother, Ira Verma, and a woman named Naira.
Ananta stood across them, a boy with mismatched eyes and a bleeding palm.
"To save the girl, one must bind the boy," Aunt Ira said.
"Blood for memory. Curse for love."
The children pressed palms together.
Blood spilled.
The mirror shimmered.
And Naira whispered:
"You will forget until the kiss. But when you remember, one must bleed again."
---
**Back to Present**
Aanya covered her mouth.
"That boy—"
"Was Ananta."
"And the woman?"
"Was your mother's twin. Naira."
The room trembled.
"Why didn't I remember any of this?"
"Because your soul was sealed after that night. We all forgot. Until you came back."
"And now?"
Veer looked at her, eyes heavy.
"Now the House wants payment."
---
The chains around the books snapped.
Pages flew open.
A photo fell at Aanya's feet.
A child.
Holding a pendant.
Aanya picked it up.
It was *her.*
"No... that's not me."
But it was.
Except the pendant was not the obsidian one.
It was *white.*
"There was another pendant?"
"Yes. One for memory. One for sacrifice."
"And who wore the white one?"
Veer turned away.
"Ananta."
---
Thunder shook the House.
A mirror shattered in the library.
And from its splinters...
A voice.
*"You kissed the curse. Now bear it, girl."*
Aanya clutched her chest as pain ripped through her.
Her eyes turned red.
Veer caught her before she fell.
"It's starting."
"What is?" she gasped.
"The memory purge. If we don't bind it again... the House will consume you."
---
** Author's Note — Aish, The Keeper of Cursed Kisses 🌿🔮**
My ShadowHearts, are you trembling? Because this chapter bled through time.
Ananta. Naira. Ira. Aanya. Veer.
Every curse has a price. Every love has a grave.
But tell me... what was in the photo?
And why does Aanya have red eyes?
Next chapter: **"Chapter 14: The house know what we buried"**
Until then, seal your mirrors.
And remember—the House doesn't forget.
Only *you* do.
—Aish ✨ The Unstoppable Queen of Whispers